I think you're doing GREAT! Just stay away from the pool stores! All you need is Bleach, Baking soda and Borax after you get this thing under control.

The key is staying on top of it.

Algae is horrible and with the amount you say you had (&have), the amount of chlorine you're putting in was being ate up because you never had enough to begin with. However, I can't add anything to phosphates. I'll have to read up on it now.

If your water is clearer now that you added this phos stuff (whatever you added), MORE POWER TO IT!

This has taken awhile for you because of a few things.
Your CYA was up. There was absolutely no chlorine in the pool. It twas green and not reading.

You did drain refills, atleast 3 right? and look at those numbers... If you do another drain refill after your pool is clear, you might even be able to get the chlorine intake down a bit more and save a pinch more in money. (Aleast that's what I'd do.)

This is your first year. You'll be a pro next year if you stick around and read the boards here. Learn why testing daily or every other day is important in water balance. They'll get sick so quick!

I have to add clorine bleach every other day at the most. I'm cutting it close and will be in danger if I go beyond that but I love my pool and don't mind taking the time to care for it. I even enjoy sweeping it! I don't own an automatic anything.

Can ya find 30 bucks?
Go to WalMart and stock up on the 174 oz Great Value Bleach.
If your up to the let's say 20 ppm to electricute this bloom, sit on that deck and check it every 4 hours to make sure the FC doesn't go down A BIT! You will have to add more bleach if that deep color purple fades in your case. (Those are test strips) Add more bleach over your return. let it circulate 24/7. I know your DH doesn't like this but if his ass would complain about how hot it was, I'd give him a swift push in that yucky pool your fighting with! I run my filter 24/7 just because I have too. (dog)

And another thing. It helps to have just one person in the pool room. I don't let anyone treat my pool and you should tell DH that you can do this but he has to trust you and once you learn, you can teach him if he wants to learn. You have to work together or you'll be defeating your purpose.

RUN PUMP 24/7.
ADD BLEACH EVERY 4-6 HOURS AS NEEDED.
HOLD 15-20ppm FOR 24 HOURS.
NO IF, AND, OR BUTS ABOUT IT.

It looks much better today! I can actually see the outline of the drain!

I'm still backwashing at least once a day.

I also added four more gallons of bleach today. I had to swap test strips, and in doing so, figured out they're not all the same.

So, I went back to my trusty kit. You dunk it underwater, then add drops of yellow to one side, and drops of red to another. My chlorine was up, up , up!

I have dead algae!!! Finally!

I'm going to vacuum tomorrow. I can't see well enough in the deep in yet, but can in the shallow end. I could actually see the outline of the algae in the deep end, though.

I'm still getting green when I backwash, though not as green. I know there's still some in there from that.

But, it's holding chlorine, killing the algae, and clearing. I haven't been able to get it to do any of that for over a month!

We've had the pump on for a few days. I think DH sees that it's helping.

The funny thing is, I have been around more pools than he has, and he's still insisting on being a part. Yet, when we first bought it, the pool was 'Your responsibility.' Now, if I say something about it, he's 'just helping'.

Anyway, thanks. And I have learned from this.

When we first started, we were testing and adding chems once a week. That may be ok for April and May, but not for June, July, and August. Especially not here, where we have 90 degree days from end of May through end of September.

Anonymous wrote:Just wanted to say that you will spend boo coo bucks on chlorine if you don't get your CYA down. It's extremely high considering a normal reading is 30-50. To do that, you have to do a partial drain of your pool until it comes down to 30-50.

With high CYA levels (yours being 117), your chlorine cannot work and I suspect this is why you have a HUGE algae bloom.

My suggestion to you and only my opinion... Your pool couldn't possibly get any worse. Work on partial draining 1st and when your numbers come down, SHOCK THE HELL OUT OF IT!

Your alkilinity looks a tad high and maybe a drain will bring that down too but I'm not sure.

I'm putting my money on CYA being SKY HIGH.

Good Luck with it and keep us posted.

You are backwards sir I'm a proffesional and your CYA should be between 80 & 100 ppm & it really doesn't matter how high the cya is but if its below 60 raise it ASAP. Now there can really be only 3 problems most likely causing the problem. #1 have your pool tested for phosphates, it's going to be the most likely cause of algea if you have chlorine always in the pool and quit using chlorox, you might need 2 bottles of phosphate remover if the levels are really high. #2 make sure you clean your filter every few days until pool is clear and get a new cartridge if need be. #3 If the pool water is old (same water in pool for 8-10 years) do a half drain and refill then do it again.

to save all you people money heres some advice. If your pool turns green first shock the pool get the free cl2 up to 10ppm for 4 hours,and run your cleaned filter for 24 hours. If that doesn't work the next step is test the cya, you want at least 80ppm trust me I've serviced hundreds of pools and there is no such thing as to high of cya level unless your dealing with the county at a public pool which I do and they want it under 100ppm, also check your phosphate level at this time. Not many people know but phosphates are a leading cause of algea grows, it's their food so if your phosphates are high it won't matter how much chlorine you put in. If those 2 things check out and your equiptment is working properly and your filter cartridges are in good shape and your running your pool 6-8 hours a day than you probaably have old water (TDS) and would need to drain and refill your pool. I guaruntee this advise will clear your pool.

I'll continue to use BBB. It works for me along with a CYA level of 30-50.

If my CYA get's any higher than that then I'll do a drain/refill as I suggested to bamamelena. She's even holding chlorine now and shouldn't have to add boo coo bucks to her pool in chlorine just to get the FC up.

Like I said before, I don't know much about phosphates in pool water but MORE POWER TO HER POOL if that's what helped when she added it.

I'll still hit a 30-50 on *my* CYA no matter what you say. That my friend is what's been recommened by more than one person on a few sites.

Oh yeah, I thought water was water?
If it's balanced, it won't turn to sludge... even if it is ten years old.

pool tech wrote:You are backwards sir I'm a proffesional and your CYA should be between 80 & 100 ppm & it really doesn't matter how high the cya is but if its below 60 raise it ASAP.

Hold on there cowboy..."it really doesnt matter what your CYA is"?! I'm sorry, but this is not true, unless using a SWCG. 30-50 is the correct range for a non salt pool. A salt pool does require more due to the low levels it produces, but it certainly DOES matter...a lot. Chem geek, where are you?

pool tech wrote:Now there can really be only 3 problems most likely causing the problem. #1 have your pool tested for phosphates, it's going to be the most likely cause of algea if you have chlorine always in the pool and quit using chlorox,

You must work for a pool store as you certainly drank the Kool-Aid. You are parroting the typical pool store line. Please tell me exactly what is wrong with using Liquid Chlorine (Bleach). It's no different from the liquid chlorine pool stores sell, except for concentration and price. Phosphates are the problem de jour these days around pool stores and rarely a problem if the pool is properly chlorinated.

pool tech wrote:#2 make sure you clean your filter every few days until pool is clear and get a new cartridge if need be.

Agreed. Good advice.

pool tech wrote:#3 If the pool water is old (same water in pool for 8-10 years) do a half drain and refill then do it again.

Why? Water doesn't "go bad" and change into something else. To me, this is a move made when you don't know how to fix the problem.

I would encourage you to go to www . troublefreepool . com and learn about BBB for both personal and your profession. The site is full of pool pros like yourself, chemists and more that can help to re-program you from your pool store cult.

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I'm no expert...just a long time pool owner. The real experts are at www . troublefreepool . com

Thanks for pulling up the rear Backglass!
I think melena is holding chlorine because she did atleast a few partial drains/refills and got that CYA down!

She's even going to get to go swimming this week end!!!
Woooooooo Hoooooooo!

You did great Melena! Just keep up on it now! If you miss a day, you maybe okay but NEVER 2 or more or you'll be in the same boat surrounded by green water. I'm glad to hear you're switching to BBB. Don't forget to use Borax when the pH is low and Baking soda for the TA if it's low. Muratic acid will help lower pH and TA if need be.

When you go back to the store for more bleach, ask them to carry your bags. I would do it for ya if you asked me! If I personally couldn't, I'd find someone and make'em!

If you have manually chlorinated (not SWG) pools run at the higher Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level of 80-100 ppm then unless you are having such pools keep an absolute minimum of 6.0 - 7.5 ppm Free Chlorine (FC), then such pools are at high risk of getting algae. There is no such thing as chlorine lock, but higher levels of CYA need higher chlorine levels for the net disinfecting chlorine level (hypochlorous acid) to be the same.

If you want to run with a high CYA level but not maintain a target FC of 9.2 - 11.5 or absolute minimums as indicated above, then you need to use a weekly maintenance dose of PolyQuat 60 algaecide or use some other effective algaecide (but they have side effects -- linear quats can foam, copper can stain or color hair, etc.). Or you can use an expensive phosphate remover to take away one food for algae, but if your pool is high in nitrates then even that might not help.

The science behind chlorine and CYA is chemistry and has been known since 1973 (see this thread for more technical info). The manufacturers of Trichlor and Dichlor claim that in "real pools" CYA doesn't matter and only chlorine levels matter (see this thread for a discussion of the study the industry uses to back their claims and notice that out of 486 pools only 4 had green algae and none of the pools with zero chlorine had green algae though had bacteria -- do you really think this was a valid study or were algaecides being used?)